Chapter 4
Jersey
I had to bolt the second she went into the bathroom.
Watching her in the pool in that demure fucking one-piece bathing suit was hard enough.
Imagining her stripping out of the damn thing was just too much.
Seeing the woman in clothes, knowing damn well what she looked like without them on, was driving me wild. Having an erection around a seven-year-old kid wasn't something I was willing to do.
Jesus, I have no fucking clue why the woman gets to me the way she does.
There's only ever been one other woman who made me react that way, and that woman had the power to destroy me. I know better than to let someone else do it again. I'm a shell of the man I used to be because I got too wrapped up in the wrong person. There's been so much tragedy in my life, things I'll never recover from, because I let someone blind me. Because I ignored so many red flags.
Jericho glared at me so many times in the last hour that I'm pretty sure the guy hates me now, as if I could've predicted the woman I saw three weeks ago at the sex club was the same woman helping Eli with his trauma.
A child therapist?
How in the world does that even line up with a woman who agreed to be tied up and touched by countless men and women?
I'm having a hard time separating the two and not making judgments, although I know better. I know people can do some kinky shit and still be suitable to be around children. I know that people who have certain adult proclivities aren't necessarily perverts where children are concerned.
I want to confront her, interrogate her, demand to know why she's here, and ask her how she found me, but the sensible part of me knows this has to be a coincidence. There's no way she knows who I am. Our covers are too damn buried for her to realize anything, although this will be a conversation I'll have to have with Hemlock.
I pause on the stairs up to my room, wondering why I feel a certain level of protection over her. I regret blurting out how I recognized her to Jericho. I should've just kept my mouth shut.
But then I wonder why it even matters. The woman is nothing to me, despite the pounding heart in my chest, knowing she's so close.
I bolt higher up the stairs, turning to look over the landing when the door to the pool opens. Caitlyn looks everywhere but up as she approaches the front door. I can't help but wonder if she's looking for me .
From the redness in her cheeks and how her hand clenches the strap of the bag she brought with her as she tugs open the front door, I'd wager she's avoiding me instead. Ignoring the way that makes me feel, I move to the front window that looks out over the front parking lot, narrowing my eyes when a group of guys from the neighboring cabin notices her, one swatting the other in the chest and motioning to her just as she climbs into her car.
I feel murderous at the men for some unknown reason, my mind formulating a way to get them out of their short-term rental so they aren't around the next time she has an appointment here. I could easily cut the power to their cabin and make it impossible to fix in a couple of hours, but that might just have them being relocated to a different cabin where I can't watch them as easily.
As she drives off, I consider where to go from here, but Jericho was adamant that I stay away from her. I'd never do anything to compromise Eli's therapy, but that doesn't stop me from imagining going back to the club to see if she's still going.
I haven't been back since that night.
After she never showed back up, I wandered around, noticing a weird and heated exchange between the man I knew as the new owner of the club and one of the patrons. It made me believe that the new owner was no more law-abiding than the old one was. They stopped when they noticed me, but I knew it would be very suspicious if I returned. In a sense, my cover was blown.
Hemlock sent Lark in, who discovered a week and a half later that the owner was involved with the old owner, and things really hadn't changed. He was arrested for money laundering and selling drugs to his clients.
I haven't even bothered to check and see if the club was yet again operating under new management.
It makes me consider going back to see if I'll find her again.
There's always a chance that every new owner is dirty in some way, and there's a possibility that she'll end up in danger. The idea makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. That part of me that is always willing to fight for those who can't protect themselves tries to claw its way up inside of me.
I press my hands to the window as I watch her brake lights light up momentarily before she pulls out of the parking lot.
Her being here means there's an entire file on her somewhere in this house. I know there isn't a Cerberus commander that would let anyone in the house who could pose a threat to the club or Eli. I bet the dossier compiled with her information is possibly thicker than some that have been done on sex traffickers we're trying to take down.
It makes my fingers itch to search for it, but Jericho's warning rings in my head. Staying away from her and trying to get info about her are in direct contradiction with each other.
Pretending she doesn't exist is probably best, but that doesn't silence that whisper in my head or quell the foreboding I have as she disappears around the bend in the road.
I argue that although I have no responsibility for her safety, Eli would be devastated if something terrible happened to her. His therapy is of the utmost importance to everyone here.
She's also a grown woman capable of making her own decisions, but folks making bad decisions that land them in horrible situations aren't part of our consideration for helping.
We aren't exactly a tough love group. We don't consider that people get what they have coming because they don't weigh all the pros and cons before making a choice that could land them on the radar of a criminal. We don't allow people to continue to be hurt, so they hopefully learn a lesson.
My phone chimes with a text message, pulling me away from the window as I step back and pull it from my pocket.
Hemlock: Conference Room
I head down the stairs, meeting Zeus, the big-ass ginger of the group, in the living room. It seems he got the same text I did.
The conference room door is already open, and Hemlock is standing in front of the room.
Casper is sitting in the corner near his equipment, hair still damp from his time in the pool.
Hemlock doesn't speak until after I pull the conference room door closed.
With Cora, Zara, Aspen, and Eli in the house, we make sure all meetings are private. The last thing we need is for any of them to have some of the evil things we face in their heads. We protect them at all costs, and that includes their mental health. Not everyone is able to handle the knowledge of what truly goes on in the world.
"What's up?" Lark asks when Hemlock remains silent.
Hemlock looks to Casper, who takes the cue. The massive television at the front of the room comes to life, the screen filled with an image of the very sex club I was just thinking about.
"Catalyst," Hemlock says.
"Better than Twilight Tease," Lark mutters, recalling the name from the last time the club was open .
"It's operational again," Hemlock says, a hint of disgust in his tone. "We're two-and-oh on the owners there. They have a grand opening tomorrow night. As former patrons, Tom Hightower and Clancy Sutherland have been invited to attend."
Not ten minutes ago,I was fighting the urge to go there on my own, knowing it would be a direct betrayal of the warning Jericho issued. Hemlock ordering it makes it a job, and who am I to argue with the boss?
"The last reopening was a masquerade theme," Lark says. "Is this one as well? I have a huge phobia of being around people whose faces I can't see."
I don't make fun of the man. We all have our own shit to deal with.
Hemlock blinks at him as if he's waiting for the man to grow a pair of balls.
"Do I need to find someone else?"
"No," Lark answers quickly.
"Good," Hemlock says. "It's an exclusive, invite-only party. From what we gather, they're only allowing people who have been there before to attend. Sort of a way to smooth over any bad feelings people may have from previous owners."
My pulse kicks up. Caitlyn might have also gotten an invite.
I open my mouth to explain the relationship between Caitlyn and the club, but I hesitate. It's almost as if I feel like I need to protect her, and from the annoyance in Hemlock's tone about the club in the first place, he doesn't seem too keen on the idea of the club's existence at all.
I opt to stay silent. If the man is as thorough as I know him to be when vetting the people he works with, then I have to assume he's well aware of Caitlyn's attendance at the facility. His opinion of it must not be as bad as I thought it was because she has still been able to show up here and work with Eli .
"Do you have a question?" Hemlock growls, his eyes drilling into me.
I swear the man is going to hate me forever for how we met.
"No, sir," I say, giving him the respect he deserves as my president.
I'm no threat to him or Zara, but to Hemlock, everyone is a threat.
I wonder how many times he has imagined tying me up and torturing me just to find out how I truly feel about his woman.
"Let me know what you find tomorrow night," Hemlock snaps.
"Yes, sir," Lark says before nudging me toward the conference room door.